What was Kubota thinking?

[Sully2]

Left and right, not front and rear!

I know they are left and right???

 

[gbick]

But is Volfant convinced yet?

 

[texbaylea]

If you can not brake with the right foot and press the HST treadle at the same time, you don't have big enough feet. I can and have done it but then I wear size 15 boots. Can't back up that way though.

Vernon

 

[Atlas]

it is possible to swing your left foot over to hold down the diff. lock, and use your right foot for the brakes, and your right hand on the hand throttle. You generally are not using the diff. lock and single wheel brake at the same time, unless a wheel is stuck, but you are using the diff. lock and the foot throttle in many situations.

With the differential lock engaged both rear wheels turn together. (I use this when I'm stuck in the mud and one wheel just spins.) If when using the differential lock and the brake for one wheel is applied it is essentially applied to the opposite wheel through the differential. Using the hand throttle to get moving....well, it just seems like all you are going to do is burn more fuel to get the power to overcome the friction of the brake and wear the brakes out faster.

 

[_RaT_]

With the differential lock engaged both rear wheels turn together. (I use this when I'm stuck in the mud and one wheel just spins.) If when using the differential lock and the brake for one wheel is applied it is essentially applied to the opposite wheel through the differential. Using the hand throttle to get moving....well, it just seems like all you are going to do is burn more fuel to get the power to overcome the friction of the brake and wear the brakes out faster.

For the very brief time you do it, the amount of fuel and brake wear would be impossible to measure. I infrequent used the differential lock even though on the L30's the lock is located on the left side. When its needed it does work well.

 

[maaax]

One person noted that you could use the cruise control and turning brakes with little or no problems and I find this to be true on my B3030 as well. It is also true that the need for making these kinds of sharp turns are seldom if ever used by me on anything but turns at the end of a field with a drag impliment or 3-point in the up position during the turn. If I use the turn brakes - I use them in participation with the cruise control - making the process as smooth as any other turning brake system I have used over almost 5 decades of sitting on a tractor seat. It is all in getting used to your equipment for the most part. The little Kubota turns sharp without turn brakes so most people who use them for lawn and garden applications won't use turn brakes under any circumnstances. It is just nice to have them there when you do need them.

Of course, there is no reasonable way to use the hydrostat foot pedal and the turn brakes at the same time - but the B3030 has a very responsive cruise control that allows easy use of turn brakes on those few occasons you might need them. It is mostly all about what you get used to and how well you adapt to what you have. We have had many different tractors and they all have little quirks you adapt to or you trade the darn thing off for something that works better for you.

Overall, the little Kubotas we have used around here are great machines. They are tough and very reliable. No matter how much thinking Kubota or any other tractor manufacturer puts into their machines - they aren't going to satisfy everyone of us or take care of our every concern. They do seem to do a very good job of improving their machines with overall customer interests in mind.

For the money - they are one of the most practical tractors produced. I thought about painting the Kubota green - but I am starting to like orange too.

 

[_RaT_]

Maax, it sure hasn't hurt their sales either.

 

[ovrszd]

Last week I was clearing some hilly, large oak timber, removing the smaller brush. With the brush cutter on and on a hillside there were several times I needed to use the individual brakes while moving. As mentioned above, I taught myself to use the cruise control on my B2910 which freed my right foot to run the brakes. Not possible to do when in reverse because the cruise control doesn't offer that ability. But otherwise, after an afternoon of operating it in this manner, I became proficient.

I remember when I was shopping for a CUT and looked at photos of the B3030 model on this website, that was my first post, how do you run the brakes and hydro at the same time???

 

[orangebluegreen]

I’ve found the brake on the right is at times a very poor choice. I’ll assume it is because my Kubota has a clutch on the left and K didn’t want to put a clutch and two brakes on the same side for fear someone might hit the clutch instead of the brake? Just speculating on that one, but I WISH I had clutch AND brakes on the left.

I’ve encountered at least two occasions I could have been better served by brakes on the left, mainly having to do with keeping tension on a strap/chain while setting the parking brake. While taking down some Australian pines I used a 100’ strap to pull from the draw bar. Once I cut a notch and then back cut the tree, I got on the Kubota and was able to pull the tree enough to fell it, but if I didn’t notch deep enough I had to go back to the tree and cut deeper. This created a very dangerous situation where I had to keep tension on the pull strap in order to keep the tree from falling the wrong way if I cut too deep and it fell before I pulled from the machine. I had to have the tension on that strap because there were electric lines that would have been taken out if the trees were to go the wrong way....very dangerous situation I would not recommend for anyone. Tension on the strap was absolutely critical and had to be done with one foot one the hydro and the other on the brake as I set the parking brake.


Second situation.....tensioning wire field fence by pulling with the tractor. Once you have the tension right you need to set the parking brake and cannot back off the hydro pedal or the tension is lost. Again had to use both feet on the right side to set the parking brake.

Yes, there are times a brake on the left is preferred in my opinion. I never use them for turning because my ground is not slippery, I used to need turning brakes all the time on slippery clay up north though with my old Ford.

There are things you do and don’t like about any machine, that’s why we shop, one has to weigh what is most important. I was aware of the brake on the right before hand, but it was down the list compared to other priorities.

 

[_RaT_]

I’ve found the brake on the right is at times a very poor choice. I’ll assume it is because my Kubota has a clutch on the left and K didn’t want to put a clutch and two brakes on the same side for fear someone might hit the clutch instead of the brake? Just speculating on that one, but I WISH I had clutch AND brakes on the left.

I’ve encountered at least two occasions I could have been better served by brakes on the left, mainly having to do with keeping tension on a strap/chain while setting the parking brake. While taking down some Australian pines I used a 100’ strap to pull from the draw bar. Once I cut a notch and then back cut the tree, I got on the Kubota and was able to pull the tree enough to fell it, but if I didn’t notch deep enough I had to go back to the tree and cut deeper. This created a very dangerous situation where I had to keep tension on the pull strap in order to keep the tree from falling the wrong way if I cut too deep and it fell before I pulled from the machine. I had to have the tension on that strap because there were electric lines that would have been taken out if the trees were to go the wrong way....very dangerous situation I would not recommend for anyone. Tension on the strap was absolutely critical and had to be done with one foot one the hydro and the other on the brake as I set the parking brake.


Second situation.....tensioning wire field fence by pulling with the tractor. Once you have the tension right you need to set the parking brake and cannot back off the hydro pedal or the tension is lost. Again had to use both feet on the right side to set the parking brake.

Yes, there are times a brake on the left is preferred in my opinion. I never use them for turning because my ground is not slippery, I used to need turning brakes all the time on slippery clay up north though with my old Ford.

There are things you do and don’t like about any machine, that’s why we shop, one has to weigh what is most important. I was aware of the brake on the right before hand, but it was down the list compared to other priorities.

Easy solution, put the range selector in low and set the parking brake as hard as you desire. The low range will easily overcome the parking brake but the parked tractor will not.